Demons of the Mind (NR)

synopsis

Blood will have blood. One of Hammer's most interesting, intelligent and underrated shockers, director Peter Sykes' gothic horror eschews their normal staples of Transylvanian twists and stitch-marked monsters for subtle pleasures infused with Freudian symbolism, surrealist mayhem and powerful perversion. In 19th century Bavaria, deranged Baron Zorn keeps his children Emil and Elizabeth locked up because he thinks they are possessed by tainted hereditary madness. It's up to discredited psychiatrist Professor Falkenberg to unravel the dark family secrets involving incest, traumatic suicide and proxy fantasies in this satisfying and unusual late-period masterpiece from the iconic House of Horror.